Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Baklava Ice Cream

My husband loves baklava, and I wanted to make ice cream this weekend, so he came up with the brilliant idea of baklava ice cream. I started with a honey-cinnamon ice cream, and folded in walnuts, pistachios, and some baked filo sheets.

Ice cream:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

2/3 cup honey

1 cinnamon stick

2 eggs

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup chopped pistachios

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 sheets filo

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 300 F.

In a medium saucepan, heat heavy cream, honey, milk, and cinnamon until boiling. Turn heat down to low while you whisk the eggs and salt together in a large bowl.

Transfer the mixture back into the sauce pan, and heat over medium-high, whisking constantly, for about 5 minutes. The mixture should not boil, but should thicken. When it coats the back of a spoon, remove from heat and pour through a sieve into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface and chill 2-3 hours until cool.

Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers instructions.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and honey together in a small sauce pan. Place one filo sheet on a Silpat-lined baking sheet and brush half with the honey-butter mixture. Fold it over and brush the top. Then brush that, and place the second sheet on so it lines up. Brush half the top filo sheet and fold it over. Finally, brush the top. You should end up with 4 layers of filo, with honey butter between each layer and on the top.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Remove from oven and cool, then break into bite-sized pieces.

After the ice cream has been frozen in the ice cream maker, transfer it to a plastic air-tight container. Fold in the nuts and filo pieces and freeze in the freezer.